


What If the Night Could Undo

by Yellow_Bananna



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla (Web Series) RPF, Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Determined!Laura, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hollstein Forever!, I Blame Tumblr, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Going to Hell, Rating May Change, Slow Build, Slow Burn, monster!Carm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-08 13:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19870054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellow_Bananna/pseuds/Yellow_Bananna
Summary: Laf caught Carmilla for science, Perry's been obsessively cleaning and baking since, Laura just wants to finish her thesis, Carmilla wants to tear their throats out, and Danny's about to stab them all.Or the AU where Carmilla was just passing through on one of the break years and gets caught transforming by Laf who proceeds to kidnap her with about 12 zeta's help. She just wanted to grab her shirt, man!(Carmilla is based on/inspired by artwork done by @adamantred, so go check out her Tumblr straight away! She's awesome!)





	1. so you're standin' on the opposite shore

**Author's Note:**

> Just to clarify, this is set in the same timezone as the original series, but it just so happens that she isn't sacrificing girls this year. For this AU to be possible she would be sacrificing girls next year instead! Silas is just as weird, though.

Laura glances nervously at the dorm's door, then back at her phone. Her eyes read the words once again.

_Come quick. In need of assistance with large skull cat. Dorm meeting now._

_sent 1:27 AM, to: Perry, Laura from: LaF_

It was now 1:38 and as quickly as she was able to get there, she was sure the other two girls were inside now. Well, if the sounds from inside were anything to go by. 

"C'mon, Laura, just see what's going on, and then head home," She whispered. She shook her head at herself, reassuring herself that it was probably another one of LaF's miscommunications, and pushed the door handle down. Inside, LaFontaine was sitting on a stool while Perry was holding a sponge near the counter.

"Laura!" Perry exclaimed. She dropped the sponge. Perry grabbed onto Laura's arm and tugged her over the counter. "Please tell LaFontaine here that-that they're being crazy! There isn't such a thing as what they are describing, it's-it's all _nonsense_ from those _fumes_ they breathe in." A huff escapes her, and finally, the bio major piped up.

"But it is true, Perr," LaF argued. "I caught this man-sized cat thing, and it has a skull on its face that is both concerning and very, _very_ cool." A large smile adorns their face. "It's down in that old science room I cleared out last semester. I got a cage down there and everything." Laura's brows furrowed quickly.

"Cat? With its skull showing? A cage?" She all but squeaked. Her questions went unnoticed, however, as Perry shook her head and backed away from the counter. She folded her arms and stared at her best friend with narrowed eyes.

"Show-show me then, with definite proof." She stuttered out. Her eyes glanced between the two other students. LaF sighed and got up. 

"Guys, guys!" Laura tried to tug on Perry's sleeve. "It's literally 2 in the morning and I need to sleep. Can't I go home?" 

Perry fixed Laura with a look. "I'm sorry if if this _distress meeting_ has cause you _oh so much trouble_ , but I really need to help LaFontaine see they are just hallucinating from their sleep deprivation, as you will probably start doing soon, too, Laura." Another _humph_. "And as much as it pains me to take away from from your health, I need to you confirm if this is real or not so that LaFontaine will let this _drop_." 

Laura just shrugged sheepishly. How was she supposed to come back to that? Perry had a point. Last time LaFontaine's "project" went unsupervised, half the campus ended up covered in an abundance of large, loud, smelly frogs that took an entire month to clear away. She figured it was best to intervene now before Silas also developed some sort of large, skull-oriented cat problem too.

So she begrudgingly slid off the stool she had seated herself on when Perry beckoned her forward and followed them out the door. It was chilly. Silas wasn't even scheduled for this cold of weather yet, but then again, Silas didn't really have a predictive schedule anyways. She rubbed her arms up and down, pulling her borrowed cardigan around her - courtesy of Perry who insisted that she would be colder than herself. And of course, the mother hen was right. Laura rolled her eyes slightly at that.

LaF led them through the building quite quickly. It surprised Laura how little time they spent in the hallways, especially considering it takes her double that time to get her own classrooms. But LaF must've had a shortcut to the room, Laura guessed as she was led into the basement area. 

"Okay, guys, don't-" A loud growl suddenly filled the dark room making LaF stop and switch on the lights. Perry gasped, covering her mouth and breathing going into hyperdrive. LaFontaine quickly swooped in and reminded Perry of her breathing exercises. Laura just went wide-eyed and stared.

In front of her was indeed a very, very large cat. A panther-like creature with sleek black fur that paced back and forth in its too-small enclosure. Its claws clicked on the metal surface while low growls came from it, and Laura was both terrified and intrigued as she finally focused on the creature's head. The top half of a skull rested on the animal's face and looked to be almost melted onto the skin there. The black holes leading to surprisingly nothing beneath, two small glowing orbs stood in for 'pupils' while a pair of thick, laid back horns stood menacingly on the top of its head. They stuck out against the greyish skull being an inky black. She was suddenly aware of the orbs focusing in on her, big curved ears sliding forward somewhat in intrigue, tongue poking out between the two large canines of the skull. 

"Get back from there, Laura!" Perry's hand on her bicep startled Laura. She hadn't even noticed herself inching toward the cage. "It could have ra-rabies, or-or maul you, or, um.. well... It's dangerous!" LaFontaine helped sit Laura down at one of the overcrowded desks. The cat had gone back to prowling its cage with its tail flicking in anger.

LaFontaine started spewing all the information they had. "So I've narrowed down her species somewhat to a "black panther" to put it simply, by using that nifty open skull of hers." They gestured to the enclosure. "Which, by the way, should _not_ be exposed and if it were to be, she should not be moving like that. Or at all really." 

"She?" Laura interrupted. 

"Yeah, that thing's a she alright." They chuckled before continuing. "Which lead me to my next finding. That panther is a..." They paused, making a weighing gesture with their hands "girl. Like she goes _poof_ and transforms back and forth, probably at will, and took like at least 7 zetas out when we got her. Which is good considering there were like 12 of them. Granted that is 58.3% of them..." LaF trailed off while running a hand through her short hair. 

"Nope, nope, nope," Perry denied. "This is... This is crazy! LaF you have to get-get animal control in here!" She screwed her eyes shut, hands clenched tightly as her brain raced to deny every possibility of this being real. As if to taunt the poor girl, a slightly louder rumble came from the beast. "Shut up!" She roared at it. The creature just roared back and LaF and Laura shared a laugh.

"Perr, calm down." Laura put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If this panther really is a girl, what would happen if we let her loose?"

LaF put a hand up and butted in. "Yeah, I second Laura here. She threatened to rip all our throats out when she escaped our 'futile attempt to capture her', and I'm not looking to become panther food any time soon." She grimaced with a glance back to the cage, where the panther made a sound that could only be described as cat laughing.

"Ok, fine," Perry lamented before looking around the room. "But I'm cleaning this mess up. How do you work like this?" The room was an abandoned science room, two of the long tables pushed together to create a desk-like structure, while the other tables were strategically - yet messily - divided into sections that held different projects. But the sheer amount of loose papers, empty coffee cups, and abandoned containers laying around didn't do the place any good. Laura backed up a step, only to step in a pile of sticky... something. She grimaced when she though of cleaning the ick off later. Maybe she'd ask Perry to do her club soda magic.

Something dawned on her as she looked at the cat. "Hey? What happens when she turns back? Shouldn't we like, get her clothes or something?" 

"About that.." LaF said sheepishly. "I haven't even though of it. But yeah, having a naked girl down here wouldn't be the best thing... so maybe grab a set of Danny's clothing? I don't know her size and Danny's pretty big."

"Okay, Danny isn't _big,_ " Laura defended quickly. "She's _tall_. And I don't know... What if she gets all weird about it? What if she thinks I'm weird?" Laura looked down, cheeks turning a suspicious shade of pink, while LaFontaine giggled. 

"Dude, Danny'd strip in the middle of the quad if you'd ask her," They teased. "Just bring her down, she'll be cool about it. Remember how ok she was with the whole frog thing?" Laura thought back before nodding. Danny Lawrence, her TA, had been extremely understanding and helped Laura out without much questioning. Danny was probably the best bet for this.

Laura looked back at the enclosure and then at Perry, who was promptly throwing trash in a new biowaste bag. She had a confused pout on her face, ginger curls bouncing around her shoulders, while she chucked an empty coffee cup into the bag violently. Laura just shook her head fondly before bidding them a good night. 

  
Back in her own dorm, Laura's shoulders sagged. She didn't bother turning on the light, already knowing there wouldn't be anything on the floor to trip over. Betty went home last week. A pang shot through her heart at the thought of being alone in the two-bedroom dorm for another night. _But what could I even do about it.._

Laura shrugged off the cardigan before changing into a tank top, the thin sweatpants sufficing for the night. She slipped under the cooled sheets while grasping the pillow beneath her. With a final glance at the barren side of the room with the stripped bed and empty shelves, Laura turned towards the wall. She shut her eyes and clung to the yellow pillow, praying for sleep.


	2. the sky doesn't clarify

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny has entered the chat.  
> What's on Danny's mind?  
> "Danny is angry and just wants Laura to be safe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and comments! I'll be sure to go and respond to them after posting this. Hope you enjoy this chapter! The next one will be much longer but I really wanted to do a scene with Danny and Laura to establish some stuff awhile.

Laura woke up to banging on her door that seemingly shook her bedframe _and_ her brain. In a sleep-driven haze, she startled out of bed and tripped before landing nearly face-first into the wardrobe as she twisted. With a groan and a foggy yet annoyed mind, she threw the door open.

Only to be almost trampled by a six foot two, redheaded giant who was pretty much in frantics.

The other girl stormed into the room all hands flailing and raised voice and Laura couldn't take it. She trudged back to her bed and threw her blankets back up from their spot on the floor. Sitting down and yawning, she finally tuned in to what the other girl had to say.

"-to a giant cat thing! I really don't appreciate being excluded from something so... so big! And to think none of you had weapons-"

"Ok, ok!" Laura snapped. "I literally just woke up, Danny. Can you cool it before my brain implodes?"

Danny crossed her arms defensively. 

"Well, it's 1:30. I would've guessed you'd be up." Laura's eyes just narrowed and Danny grew fidgety. A tick of hers, she ran a hand through her straightened red hair. "Cocoa?" 

"Yes please!" Laura's eyes lit up at the offer. She could hear Danny chuckle fondly as she grabbed a familiar blue mug. The two were silent as Laura stretched her limbs out and went into the bathroom to change. When she came back out, dressed in a striped shirt and jeans, Danny stood with two steaming mugs in her hands. Laura gratefully accepted her mug with a bashful smile.

"Sorry for getting angry," Laura sipped her cocoa before continuing. "Now what were you barging in here while I'm still in my PJ's for?" Danny turned a light shade of pink before shaking it off.

She took a breath and explained, "Well, LaF texted me this morning to ask about clothes. So naturally, I checked your text too" so Laura had hit send last night "and I would've last night but I passed out after the Summer Society's mixer..." Danny trailed off and Laura nodded and gestured for her to continue. "Anyway, I was confused so I called LaF and all of a sudden there was this loud growling thing in the background. And then Perry had the phone and she explained everything and all I could think about was that you barged into this basement room," She took another breath before gazing into Laura's eyes with her own silvery-blue ones. "All alone with a weird monster. With no one to help you." Danny's voice was soft by the end, concern lacing the edges. Laura's heart made another attempt to jump out of her chest.

Various stages of blushing painting both of the girl's cheeks, Laura stood set her mug down to grab one of Danny's hands in both of hers. "I'm fine, Danny. I appreciate the concern but I'm a big girl, okay?" Danny sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Next time I promise I'll call you." Danny huffed a puff of air towards her hair, eyes rolling playfully.

"Deal." 

Laura beamed for a second before realizing their position. She had unconsciously shifted forward and now the two were inches apart, hands held together, a breath held between the two. She almost took the leap of faith. _Almost_.

"We better get down to the lab!" Laura's high pitched voice sang as she breezed - _un_ gracefully _-_ away from the redhead, missing the half disappointed, half hopeful look that crossed the girl's face.

"Yeah, we should, Laur," Danny replied, voice almost dreamy. She grabbed the bag she had dropped in the hallway as they passed it. Laura was just grateful as she glanced at the clock - almost 2 pm - that she didn't have classes that day.

Then she would be totally screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was finally able to sit down and type this out. When I first published this, not a lot was going on, and the second I hit "post", shit hit the fan. It's all settled now but I was really hoping to get this out days ago. 
> 
> Chapter 3 should be in the works by tomorrow night, and uploaded sometime the next day! (Hopefully not jinxing it right now)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping to update as soon as possible! Until my life straightens out a bit more, I can't promise an upload schedule yet but I'm looking to publish chapter 2 super soon!


End file.
